It Wasn't Me
by nine miles to go
Summary: Nobody believed Chris when he denied that he was evilmost of his family believed a prophecy foretelling the turning of a Charmed One's son was his destiny. So when a tidal wave wipes out San Francisco, who's to blame but an unknowingly innocent Chris?
1. Abandon Bridge!

I'm taking another shot at Chris stories—yay!!  
  
Chris could make out happy children running in the San Francisco Park, like little dots from his stationary position on the Golden Gate Bridge. It wasn't fair. Those little kids would have a home to return to where people would accept them for who they were and not what they were feared to become.  
  
It was all because of that damned prophecy that everybody in the Halliwell family treated him so differently. It foretold that a boy in the future generation of the Charmed Ones would corrupt magic, and everyone refused to believe it was precious little Wyatt. But he knew better about his brother. It was just...well, nobody believed him.  
  
"Just another excuse to shake off that prophecy, huh, Chris?" his mother would sigh. "Chris, you know that Wyatt didn't use magic for personal gain or hurt anybody. That's not like him. Are you trying to make it look like Wyatt's entitled to becoming evil instead of you?"  
  
"No," Leo would interrupt. "He's just craving some attention. He's jealous that Wyatt's going to whitelighter school and he isn't." Then, with a stony, firm glare at Chris, he would say, "You aren't going and that's that."  
  
Then he would clear off his dinner plate and resist the urge to telekinetically hurl something at Leo. Leo was supposed to be his father—well, then again, Piper was supposed to be his mother, too. Neither of them could accept him for what he was.  
  
For a long time he strongly believed that the prophecy had been wrong. His courage never faltered, his Aunt Paige made sure of that. Aunt Paige and her daughter Mel were the only ones that believed in him anymore...until he stopped believing in himself. Maybe this was his destiny. Maybe someday he'd be the one putting an end to that infernal racket of toddlers beneath him, killing them all. Maybe...  
  
There was an odd glittering noise from behind him and he cocked his head behind him to see who it was.  
  
"Hey, Chris," said Mel, looking skeptically down at the Bay below them. "Erm, what are you doing up here anyways?"  
  
"Nothing," he responded, letting his legs kick back and forth off the edge of the bridge. "Just thinking. How did you find me here? I messed around with the scrying crystals, you shouldn't be able to use them."  
  
"Oy," she laughed, punching him lightly, "I'm, like, part-whitelighter. I sense people. Duh." She carefully sat down next to him. "Why are you messing with the scrying crystals?"  
  
"No reason, I just don't want my mom to find out that up way up here. She'd totally go ballistic on me. Not like she's going to look for me, but still, I might want to play it safe considering the whole 'you're gonna turn evil' vibes I'm getting from her."  
  
"Um, Chris, did it ever occur to you that by being untraceable from the crystals might just give her another excuse to say that you're evil?"  
  
"Yeah, I considered that," he grinned, "but it won't change anything even if she did scry and find me. I'm still here and she still can't orb, and from the way things look, neither of those facts are going to change for a while."  
  
Mel grinned back and nudged him. They were like best friends, ever since they were little. They were the closest in age, Chris being thirteen and Mel being twelve. Chris and she spent more time together than Chris ever spent with Wyatt.  
  
"Yeah, guess so. Hey, what's up with your brother?"  
  
Chris flinched. She always used the term "your brother" rather than "Wyatt" or "my cousin." I seemed as if she was always trying to make as little connection as she could between the fact that she and Wyatt were related, and Chris couldn't blame her. He didn't want to be related to Wyatt either—but at least she didn't have to share a room underneath his shadow on the bottom of a bunk bed every night!  
  
"What do you mean?" he asked her innocently.  
  
"Oh, c'mon, you've seen him. He's very...giddy. Excited. That's not normal for Wyatt. Do you think he's using spells for personal gain again...?"  
  
Chris shook his head. "Nah, Wyatt wouldn't..." The color drained from his face. "Yes he would. Do you remember Debra, that cheerleader that told Wyatt that she wouldn't take him to the dance if her life depended on it? I've just remembered... now she's going with him. Strange, huh?"  
  
"That must have been a spell. Debra Kingsley would NEVER go out with Wyatt. EVER. I know her pretty well, we took a baby-sitting course together last summer. She taught me a lot, including that boys weren't a part of her priority list until she turned sixteen. What is she now, fifteen?"  
  
"Must be. She's in Wyatt's grade."  
  
"Ouch, that sucks. Chris, you should really tell your mom this time. Don't let him get away with it, he's messing with her feelings, her heart! That's not fair, Chris, it's unethical! Tell Aunt Piper, for her sake—"  
  
"I can't," he stated flatly. "They won't believe me. It'll get us nowhere; in fact, it'll probably only make me lose some of the trust I've already salvaged from Piper."  
  
"Piper? You call her 'Piper' now? What happened to 'mom'?"  
  
"I don't call her that anymore, it doesn't fit," Chris insisted. "Besides, Aunt Paige is more like my mom than Piper, and you're more like a sibling than Wyatt."  
  
"What about Prue?"  
  
"Well, she's just—my adorable little OTHER cousin. But she's a little boring to talk to, you know, since she's like nine..."  
  
"Cut her some slack for a—Oh my GOD!"  
  
"What?" Chris demanded, not seeing what was going on behind them. At that moment they were engulfed by a gigantic tidal wave and swept into the Bay, both knocked unconscious before they could react.  
  
A/N—okay, I know that EVERYBODY hates cliff hangers, but I have to deal with them and SO WILL YOU!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!  
  
Please R&R, I promise to read one of your stories if they are Charmed and review them too! 


	2. Doubting The Prophecy

More cliffhangers at the end...mwahaha!  
  
Disclaimer: Must I wallow in shame by admitting to the world yet again that I still haven't managed to buy (or steal) ownership of Charmed from the WB? Oh, don't mock me again shudders! LIFE ISN'T FAIR!!!  
  
"Where do you suppose Wyatt and Chris are?" Piper asked Paige, chopping up some celery for dinner that night. "They've both been gone an awfully long time. Normally Chris is home by at least four, and Wyatt's back at about five."  
  
"Don't worry," Paige teased, "it's not like they're selling drugs or something. Anyways, Mel's gone, too. She's probably with them, where ever they are. She'll keep 'em in line for ya."  
  
Piper scoffed. "Not if she's anything like her party-girl mother." Paige was going to shoot back a smart remark but Piper continued. "You know, I worry about Chris when he gets home so late. What if that prophecy has already played through? I've seen little changes here and there, like...well, Wyatt and Chris' room doesn't smell weird anymore, and suddenly their laptop works again. How do you explain that?"  
  
"Honey, Chris would never use magic for personal gain. He's a good, honest kid. When are you going to see that? Besides, his fate isn't written down in stone. How do you know that it isn't Wyatt doing all of this? I mean, they share the room, and lately everything has been going Wyatt's way."  
  
"How DARE you accuse Wyatt of being evil, he's my son!"  
  
"So is Chris!" Paige retorted. "You need to treat him more like a human being than a bomb about to explode at any moment! He's a little boy still, Piper—what if your neglecting him turns him evil, even if he was to turn evil in the first place? What would you say then? Huh? I'm WAITING for an answer, Piper!"  
  
Paige took in a few deep breaths to calm herself, then saw Piper, who had put down the cutlery and begun to cry.  
  
"I don't want to be a bad mom to Chris," she sobbed. "But I'm afraid. I don't want to live with the fact that he'll be evil someday."  
  
"There is no proof that it's Chris that's going to turn evil. You're seeming to forget the line of the prophecy that was missing from that sheet of paper. We still haven't found it. You don't know it's Chris."  
  
"But...the part of the last line I saw read, 'the younger of two—' then it was cut off. It needed another witch, a good witch, to see the rest...and I didn't want to expose either of the boys to that."  
  
"Well, you certainly haven't done a good job of your little plan!"  
  
"Damn it, Paige, would you LAY OFF?"  
  
"No! Look at what you're doing, Piper, don't you understand? Leo does it too! You both come home, greet Wyatt, ask Wyatt how his day was, call Wyatt for dinner, tuck Wyatt into bed—but what about Chris?" She folded her arms at her chest, lips pursed, and when Piper didn't respond and just looked down at the celery, she kept trying to prove her point. "I'm practically raising Chris on my own, it's hard enough being a single parent with Mel—not that I don't enjoy him, but I can't afford another kid—"  
  
"PAIGE, JUST—"  
  
"NO, I WON'T—"  
  
All of a sudden they heard a deafening roar. Paige and Piper gasped, both getting to their feet and looking out the window. Before they could get there, a hand grabbed each of their shoulders and orbed them Up There.  
  
It was Leo, of course. As soon as he got them to the Magic School, he orbed down again, obviously trying to save the others and the innocents from whatever was going on down on earth.  
  
"What's happening?" Piper cried.  
  
"I saw...water...from out the window. It was coming straight at us, like a tidal wave, and it was destroying everything in its path."  
  
"Wyatt! Chris!" Piper screamed, hoping to reach them. "WYATT, CHRIS, YOU BOTH GET YOUR LITTLE HALF-WHITELIGHTER ASSES DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT, OR I'LL—"  
  
"Yes, mom?" asked a panting Wyatt. He was drenched head to toe in water himself. "You guys alright? Where's everybody else?"  
  
As if to answer his question, Leo orbed up to them again, having grabbed a shocked Phoebe and Prue from their apartment in the city. They seemed shaken but otherwise okay and dry. Prue made a little whimper and Leo ruffled her hair before orbing out again to find Mel and Chris.  
  
A moment later, he came back with an unconscious Mel. He quickly revived her, then looked up at Piper with worried eyes. "I can't find him," he panted, "I can't sense Chris anywhere."  
  
"Try again!" Piper demanded, tears rolling down her cheeks.  
  
"I can't," Leo said firmly, "there are other innocents to save. Chris can wait right now, I'm sure he'll be fine and orb up here. He's not stupid."  
  
"Wait—" Mel cried, but she was too late; Leo had orbed down again. "I know where he is, I sensed him—he used a potion to block off all scrying, and I guess he blocked off the other whitelighters, too—"  
  
"WHAT?" Piper hollered. "He WHAT? HE USED A POTION SO WE COULDN'T SCRY FOR HIM? PAIGE, THIS WAS THE KID YOU WERE DEFENDING A MOMENT AGO! CAN YOU POSSIBLY DENY THAT HE'S EVIL AFTER THIS?"  
  
"YOU BACK OFF!" Mel screamed at Piper. She stepped back for a moment, having never yelled at an adult before, much less her Aunt. "Chris isn't evil, Aunt Piper, Wyatt is. I know it, Chris knows it, my mom knows it. YOU just don't want to believe it!"  
  
"Don't tell me—"  
  
"How to raise your kids?" Mel finished, mocking her. She didn't care. The bubbling rage was all coming out now, and she had to admit that it felt pretty good to release the anger. "I've heard those words from your mouth too many times to count. If you don't want our advice, at least listen to the things we've already said. CHRIS IS YOUR SON. HE WAS ON TOP OF THE BRIDGE WHEN IT COLLAPSED WITH THE WAVE. HE'S UNCONSCIOUS AND OUT THERE, ALONE, AND IT SEEMS THAT I'M THE ONLY ONE IN HERE WHO CARES!"  
  
She orbed out, leaving a stunned Paige and Piper in her wake.  
  
"Look what you've done!" Paige wailed, staring at the spot that her daughter orbed away from. "Look..."  
  
"Wait," Wyatt said darkly, "what if Chris didn't want us to scry for him because HE caused the tidal wave in the first place?"  
  
DUN, DUN, DUN!! Yah, you get the point—that's how every chapter's gonna end from here on. hehehe. 


	3. Denial Amongst the Powers

Yay, I finally updated!! Have fun. Or else.  
  
Disclaimer: Do I have to say it AGAIN? Looky folks, I own Mel and little Prue, but otherwise, just get off my case! lol. It's not like the FBI's come after me before...well, maybe I shouldn't tell you about that little incident, actually....lol.  
  
"Chris wouldn't—" Paige began.  
  
"Do your really think that Chris would do something like that, Wyatt?" Piper asked in awe. "What makes you think it's Chris? Do you know anything about it? Tell me, Wyatt, I promise to believe you."  
  
"But—"  
  
Wyatt interrupted Paige and walked up to Piper, hugging her with not-so- convincing tears running down his cheeks. "Oh, mom, he made me swear not to tell—he said he'd kill you all if I did—but I saw him...in our room. When I asked him what he was doing he told me that he was creating chaos. I didn't think it would be that bad..."  
  
Piper stroked his blonde hair. "It's okay honey, it's not your fault that Chris is being so evil. You didn't do anything wrong, okay? I'm glad I can trust you to tell me these things."  
  
She looked up at Paige with an I-told-you-so glare, but found that she was already gone somewhere else.  
  
Wyatt let out a badly muffled sob, and in all of Piper's haste on conclusions she didn't stop to think that those were fake cries and that her eldest son may be a liar. Her son, Chris, was a demon, and there was nothing she could do but sit and watch as he killed people. There obviously was no hope for returning him to the light side now.  
  
Just then, Paige orbed back in, carrying a large book. She wasn't crying anymore, but held a long, steady gaze, face etched with darkness. It was a mysterious look as she handed the book to Piper gently, then casually flipped the pages to it as if they hadn't just gone through that heated argument with each other. She stopped at a page.  
  
"What's going on?" Phoebe asked, being sick and tired of playing bystander while her two favorite people fought. "What's that book thingy? Look, I hope your little ordeal is over, you're upsetting Prue and Wyatt."  
  
"Phoebe, come here," Paige instructed, "leave Prue over there for a moment. I want to see something."  
  
As Phoebe walked up, Wyatt tried to slither over to his cousin. Paige roughly grabbed him by the collar and drew him back over to the book.  
  
Paige put a finger on the blank page she'd opened to. "'The evil will be spread far and wide when a family of light collides'," she read out loud. She motioned to Phoebe to continue the verse.  
  
Phoebe took a last glance at Prue to make sure that she was still occupied with trying to dry herself off, then put her finger onto the page as well. More words formed. "One of the boys from the eldest Charmed One of three will break the bind to try and be free," she read, looking at Paige as if expecting an answer as to why they had out the prophecy at a time like this.  
  
"Piper, go," Paige urged. "I want to hear the rest. Wyatt will translate the last line," she said happily.  
  
Piper's eyes narrowed. "Weren't you the one saying that WYATT was evil just a little while ago?"  
  
"Well, assuming that your correct about Wyatt's innocence, then he should be able to read the prophecy. Isn't that RIGHT, Piper?"  
  
"Exactly," she said confidently, adding a touch of coldness in her voice aimed in Paige's direction. She put on her finger with Phoebe's and Paige's, and with an exasperated voice, she read, "He alone will determine the fate, whether they live or die from his hate. The younger of the two—and that's where it just stops, like usual."  
  
"Only this time," Paige said with a grin, "we have Wyatt. Don't we, sweetie?"  
  
Wyatt forced a smile. "Of-of course, Aunt Paige," he stuttered, slowly reaching a shaking hand towards the book.  
  
They heard an orbing jingle and Wyatt whipped around, taking the moment of distraction to put down his arm. It was Leo, carrying several innocents that were also wet but fine. He gently released them, nodded at Piper, then began to orb away—when he stopped.  
  
"What are you all doing?"  
  
"Reading a prophecy," Paige announced in a cheery tone. "Want to join us? Wyatt's reading the rest of it for everyone."  
  
Leo orbed up to Paige and grabbed the book, slamming it shut. "No," he growled, "I won't let you."  
  
(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/ (/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/  
  
Mel dove into the water, searching blindly. She could sense Chris, she knew he was here, drowning, dying. She couldn't let that happen to him, he was her best friend. The one that supported her in everything, never let her down...  
  
She could feel the hot tears in her eyes but they were swept away by the current. Chris' life force was fading. She wouldn't be able to sense him once he was dead. There had to be another way to get to him...  
  
From the corner of her eyes she saw brown hair—Chris! It was Chris, several feet below her. His eyes were closed and he was bleeding, obviously being hit by stray cars and parts to the bridge.  
  
'Please be okay...' she thought desperately, grabbing a handful of hair and orbing away to Up There.  
  
Her first reflex was to scream at them all "Damn it to hell, where's Leo??" but apparently Leo was already there, and they had already started screaming. It wasn't a very pretty sight, and before she could yell for their help, she found herself locked in curiosity.  
  
Leo and her mother seemed to be wrestling over a book. "I will not let Wyatt be exposed to your nonsense about the damned prophecy!" Leo hollered at Paige. "I don't care if you need another good witch, take another one, but don't use Wyatt! Why should he have to uncover the sorrowful fate of his brother?"  
  
"Give me that book back, you son of a bitch!" Paige shrieked, trying to orb it to her. "Book!" she commanded, but nothing happened. "BOOK!"  
  
Mel could see what was happening. Her mother was trying to prove that Chris was innocent, but why now? Well, if it was her mother, she knew that the reason was good. She gave Chris' hand a squeeze, then orbed behind Leo, levitated up, and kicked him hard in the stomach. Before he could react, he dropped the book and fell face-first onto the marble flooring.  
  
"Thanks, honey," Paige said gratefully, lunging for the book before Leo got up. She opened it and held it up to Wyatt.  
  
"I can't," he said nervously, panicking. "You heard my dad. He said I can't."  
  
"But Wyatt—"  
  
"Give me that!" Mel ordered, putting her finger on the page. Writing began to emerge from it but she turned around instead, looking at Chris. "Heal him, Uncle Leo, he's dying!"  
  
"I will not heal an evil being," Leo muttered, head downward.  
  
"LEO—f you—"  
  
She turned to he mother for support, but her mom was smiling widely. "Leo, Chris isn't evil. Wyatt is. Go and heal your son—"  
  
"—or we'll use the power of three to vanquish you," Phoebe finished, stepping by Paige and showing their alliance.  
  
TBC....yes, I will try to hurry up, but all my finals are this week and the next so it may be a bit delayed. But not by too much, don't worry! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, I will respond to them eventually, but I still gotta study for the accursed finals...grrrrr upon the teachers....must rip up the SOLS!!! 


	4. Assignments

Disclaimer: That's IT! I'm sick of repeating over that I don't own Charmed—which I don't and never will—so if you want a decent disclaimer, then look at the other chapters. I'm sure the disclaimer is everybody's FAVORITE part of the story.  
  
Plz excuse any errors in the text, I'm writing in the dark with my sisters and brother screaming from behind me. It's not very peaceful here....lol.  
  
"W-what?" Leo stammered, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. "You guys can't vanquish me, I'm your whitelighter, Piper's husband!"  
  
"We've vanquished our husbands before," Phoebe hissed. "Remember Cole? Do you really want to go through all that crap again?" Leo shook his head. "Go heal him, then! You have no choice."  
  
"Wait—how is he supposed to know that you two aren't lying? He hasn't even seen the ending to the prophecy—speaking of which, scootch over, I wanna see this," Piper demanded, shoving Phoebe out of the way to read the book. "The younger of the two..." her mouth went dry as she read ahead. She looked up at Leo, tears in her eyes. "The younger of the two brothers will tamper with space and time, making it so the eldest's evil will be erased from the line. Unless the younger is killed before the day this text is revealed, he alone will save the world."  
  
Leo gasped. "Damn it, I hope I'm not too late," he cried, running over to Chris. The ground beneath him was soaked with blood and he was pale, not yet breathing. A white light emerged from Leo's hands and slowly, the wounds healed.  
  
Chris sprang up the instant he was revived. "MEL!" he shrieked. Seeing his surroundings, he gave them all a confused look. "Dad? What are you doing here? Where's Mel—we were on the bridge—is she alright?"  
  
"I'm fine, Chris," she soothed him, "I'm okay. We almost lost you, we were so scared."  
  
"Sorry," he mumbled. "What happened, anyways?"  
  
Wyatt stepped forward before anybody could respond. "I happened. I made that tidal wave, but don't you worry, it only destroyed San Francisco. I plan to take it slowly—one city at a time, so I can watch the world suffer! And," he added, a fireball forming in his palm, "these are survivors. I can't risk that."  
  
He aimed at the three innocents, huddled in the corner weeping, and blasted them before everyone had a chance to absorb everything he said. Their ashes lay in a little puddle of the water off their clothes.  
  
"Wyatt..." Piper breathed.  
  
By now Chris, quite shaken, had risen to his feet. "You—you just killed innocents! I knew it was you, but you," he cried, pointing at Piper and Leo, "you all wouldn't believe me. You all blamed ME! After all this time...every time I tried to convince you of the TRUTH...you—"  
  
"Chris, I'm sorry!" Piper begged, "Please forgive us, we didn't mean it—"  
  
"It's too late to take it back," he countered. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, there are more innocents that are still alive out there that need saving. I'M going to save them before WYATT kills them all. Got it? Good."  
  
He orbed out.  
  
"Not if I get there first," Wyatt murmured, shimmering after him.  
  
Piper gasped—this was too much to take in. Her sons were both in danger—Wyatt was in danger of himself, and Chris was in danger of...everything. How could she have been so blind? Chris told her over and over again that Wyatt was using spells against the Wiccan rules, but she always thought it was some childish attention-seeking habit that he just never grew out of. He was telling the truth...  
  
"Earth to Piper," Paige cut through her panic, "we're all astonished, but really, snap out of it. We have to find a way to solve this."  
  
"What are we going to do?" Mel wailed.  
  
"Honey," Phoebe said gently, "can you and Prue go down to the nursery for a moment? We'll call you back when we come up with a plan."  
  
Prue stomped down on her right foot. "I don't want to go to the stupid old nursery, it's for babies! We can stay right here. We want to help. Right, Mel?"  
  
Mel made a wistful glance at her mother and Aunts, but knew that she had no other choice but to be strong and obey. "We don't wanna stay here," Mel tried to laugh, "they're going to talk about gooey romantic stuff that they did last night with their husbands."  
  
"Ew," Prue twisted her face in disgust. "What about Chris and Wyatt?"  
  
"We'll go think about that in the nursery. Now, c'mon, I'm sure your old teacher will be very happy to see you again."  
  
Once they left, Paige spoke up first. "Well he have several issues to face, and if they aren't addressed quickly then we could lose somebody we care about. First of all, we have to address the fact that Chris is running around a flooding city alone with no way to sense him. Phoebe, I'm assigning you to that task—you know the Book of Shadows the best, find where the spell is that Chris used and reverse it. The other problem is that Wyatt's trying to kill Chris and innocents. If he wants to kill Chris, he'll have no problem killing the rest of his family, and that's why you're going to find him and orb him outta where ever he is, alright, Leo?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Okay. Mel and I will go down and try to save everybody we can from the flooding. Piper, you watch Prue, wait just in case Chris or Wyatt comes back, keep the innocents busy, and try by all means possible to find a way to stop the wave your son created. Everybody know what they have to do?"  
  
Without waiting for a response, Paige orbed down, grabbed a wet but still legible Book of Shadows and handed it to Phoebe.  
  
"Call me once you undo Chris' spell," Leo ordered, orbing down to earth to search for his sons.  
  
Piper ran off to the nursery to get Mel and Prue. Mel orbed back to Paige, ready to go as soon as Piper told her what to do. They then both orbed down to earth, waving to Prue and Piper, who were now in the library researching magically-induced tidal waves.  
  
Mel and her mother orbed up to a tall building that had managed to be spared from the destruction. It was a mess—there were people inside of every building screaming, water flooding the streets mercilessly. She wanted to save them all, make their misery end...but knew she couldn't.  
  
She orbed into the lower levels of the building first, grabbing as many people as she could with her two arms and orbing them away to Up There. She released them, nodded at Piper, Prue, and Phoebe, then orbed back down.  
  
By the time she returned to that level, she found that two people had already died in that same place in just the time it took for her to orb Up There. She stifled back a cry, knowing that she couldn't help it. It wasn't her fault.  
  
Meanwhile, Paige was doing the same orbing routine in the other lower levels of buildings and occasionally streets, since she was a good enough swimmer. Being more experienced, she easily grabbed people without second thought and orbed. Pretty soon the entire Magic School was packed with innocents saved by Mel, Paige, and Chris, whom Piper hadn't yet been able to catch.  
  
"This is getting out of hand," Piper whined, after the visits from Chris stopped and he didn't come back. Prue had her ears covered in disdain at the hysteria of the mob of people. "We need silence, now." She threw the Wonders of Water book down and stood on her chair. "EVERYBODY, WE KNOW YOU'RE CONFUSED, BUT SHUT THE HELL UP!!!"  
  
The noise continued, though, and Piper and Phoebe couldn't concentrate on what they were doing. Piper threw up her hands and froze them all in impatience. "That is it," she groaned. "No more!"  
  
"Ah, I found it!" Phoebe squealed. She immediately used the reversing spell so Chris could be sensed, and called for Leo. "Yo, Leo! Get up here, I need to talk to you!"  
  
He didn't come. Piper and Phoebe exchanged worried glances. What could they possibly be doing that was taking them so long?  
  
(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/ (/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/  
  
"Wyatt, please," Leo begged, "don't do this. He's your brother!"  
  
"Don't come any closer," Wyatt warned. "I've got an extra darklighter arrow and I'm not afraid to eliminate you first." He had Chris bound to the floor of an empty office building on the edge of San Francisco, and was pointing an arrow at him. "How do you like being afraid, Chris?" he mocked. "This is what you get for trying to reveal me. This is what you get for believing that you could stop the most powerful being in the world!"  
  
"Wyatt..." Chris pleaded. "Don't..." He stared at the arrow, eyes growing wide in fear. "I don't want to hurt you, Wyatt, I want to help you!"  
  
"You heard the prophecy—you're going to screw up time so I won't be as powerful! I can't let that happen!"  
  
"So you're going to pretend that we haven't been brothers for thirteen years?" Chris cried, outraged. "You're going to pretend that you never loved your family, that you were ever happy with us? Wyatt, how could you?"  
  
"You see, Chris, where you go all wrong. Yes, I can pretend that it didn't happen—because the entire time, I, myself, was pretending."  
  
Chris let out a small sob and Leo felt like his heart was ripping out. He had let his sons down, both of them, by not seeing what was wrong and what was right. Had he ever said anything nice to Chris? How many times had he let Wyatt get away with something that he shouldn't have done?  
  
"This is why I need to end you, Chris. You pose a threat to me. You're much more powerful than you think you are...you wanna know why?"  
  
Chris scoffed through his tears. "Why? Why would I be more powerful than I think I am? I'm just the second child. I'll never be anymore powerful than dirt."  
  
Leo flinched. He knew what was coming next. Wyatt was definitely old enough at the time when they read the prophecy to remember that they had bound most of Chris' powers at the tender age of three.  
  
"It was ten years ago," Wyatt laughed, "and you were just a toddler. Mom and Dad bound all of your powers, fearing that you would be evil! Ha! They actually thought that you were powerful enough to be EVIL!" He calmed himself and kept going. "Did you know that between the two of us, we have all of the Wiccan powers known to the side of light? We share orbing, summoning, and telekinesis. Mom and Dad let you keep those powers for self defense. Ever wondered why I have the power of energy balls and astral projection?" He sighed. "It's because you, Chris, have the rest. You need to be eliminated. Now."  
  
"NO!" Leo screamed, but he was too late—the darklighter arrow was planted firmly in Chris' side and he was moaning in pain.  
  
Wyatt's eyes glinted in the enjoyment that he felt from his success. Seeing Leo's horrified glance, he spoke, "Get out or your next."  
  
Leo orbed for assistance and Wyatt shimmered, leaving Chris alone and dying for the second time that day.  
  
YAY, MORE CLIFFHANGERS FOR MY WONDERFUL AUDIENCE! MWAHAHAHA!!! Plz R&R. Have fun reading the next chapter, which should be available either late tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll respond to the reviews, I promise. Hey, um, I'm blonde and generally clueless to the 21st century technology (even though I'm thirteen). Could somebody tell me how to make it so I can receive anonymous reviews? Sorry, I didn't mean to block them! Lol. I'm kind of confused by the computer sometimes. 


	5. Rescue Mission

"Leo—you're back," Piper observed, looking around him. "Where are the boys? You were supposed to get—Leo, are you okay?" She held her breath and waited for his response but only heard a sniffle. "No...no, they've got to be alright! What happened?"  
  
"Wyatt used a darklighter arrow on Chris," he choked. "There was nothing I could do to stop it. He told me that if I didn't leave, I'd be next, and if I was hit, then nobody could save Chris...we need to do something, before it's too late, Chris is dying—why are all of these people frozen?"  
  
"Cuz Aunt Piper got pissed of at 'em all," Prue explained casually, giving a little flick of her wrist to unfreeze them. Piper grabbed her hand before she could succeed. "What are you guys saying? Did you find Wyatt and Chris?"  
  
Piper sighed in relief. Obviously she'd entered the room too late to notice what the chaos was ensuing over. "Um, no, not yet. But they're fine. Go find your mommy...and give her a message for me. Tell her that I'm going down to Building 11. It's code. She'll know what it means."  
  
"Code for what?"  
  
"Uh...nothing important."  
  
"Okay." Prue was about to close the book she'd been flipping through when something caught her eye. "Hey, Aunt Piper, I think I've found something! I don't know, so don't get your hopes up or anything, but there's a spell on erasing element disasters. Not from memory, of course, and all the damage will still be done, but it'll remove the water. It needs the Power of Three. Do you think it'll work?"  
  
Piper grabbed the book, eyes scanning the page. She looked back up at Prue, face glittering with excitement. "You did it, honey! Good job! You're being such a good help, now go find Phoebe and tell her what you did. Forget the code."  
  
Once she'd left, Piper held out her hand to Leo to orb her away. "Hurry," she pleaded.  
  
"But we're gonna need at least three witches to do this," Leo reasoned. "It may take a while—"  
  
Mel and Paige both orbed in at that moment, sweating and drenched in water. "Anything on Chris and Wyatt yet? How's everything holding up?" Paige asked.  
  
"If we're lucky, we'll be able to stop this," Piper informed her. "Prue found a reversal spell for the flood. First of all, we'll need three witches to recite the spell. Here's the page. Read, quickly, we don't have much time."  
  
They both rushed up to the book on either side of Piper, leaning so closely together that their soggy hair dripped onto the paper. "Make the element of which we think erase, send it to disappear in time and space." They finished the spell, then Piper tugged on Leo's sleeve to orb her.  
  
"Follow us," she instructed. "Chris has been hit by a darklighter arrow, we need to save him. He's dying."  
  
Mel let out an anguished squeak in shock. Never had she thought that Wyatt would betray the family, kill somebody that had never done anything to cross him but try to help. Once again, she felt her world crumbling. She could save a hundred innocents, but it would make no difference if she couldn't save Chris.  
  
Her mother had reacted faster and grabbed her arm, sending them down with Leo and Piper to the abandoned building that Chris was trapped inside of. She gasped at what she saw: four demons were huddled around the limp form of a boy, torturing him to death.  
  
The boy was Chris, and the demons were Wyatt's "school friends."  
  
Piper immediately began hurling fireballs at them. They seemed to be affected by it somewhat, but it was only hurting them a little bit. The demons were still able to send more fireballs of a sickly green color back at them, which Paige expertly diverted back to their heads. Now they were almost finished off, and Mel knew what she had to do. Hopefully this would be the last time that she played stand-in for the Power of Three.  
  
She closed her eyes for a moment and focused. Of all the kids in the Halliwell manor, she had the most trouble controlling her powers, even if they were never as strong as Wyatt's and Chris'. Her powers were levitation, which she never used in her fear of falling and heights, and a type of energy ball like Piper's, only slightly modified.  
  
Opening her eyes again, she screamed in rage and sent an energy ball at the four of them, thoroughly bursting each and every one to flames. Nobody could stand in her way now. She knew that if she learned to do that more often, then maybe someday she could even practice with Chris and her mother without being afraid.  
  
"Chris!" she shrieked, looking down at him. She orbed to him, Leo and Paige following. He had to be alive, but he looked so...dead. His breathing was jagged and he was wincing in pain at the fresh burns from the demons, unable to defend himself. "Please don't die," she cried. "Please..."  
  
Leo bent down to heal Chris, and the wounds faded, but his eyes remained closed. Piper squeezed Leo's arm in confusion. Why wasn't he waking up? Eventually there was nothing left to heal and Leo gently shook Chris, trying to see if he'd open his eyes.  
  
"Chris, can you hear me?"  
  
He nodded. "My head hurts..." he moaned, trying to rub it, but failing miserably. "Make it stop..."  
  
"I can't," Leo panicked, "I don't know what's happening to him!"  
  
"This can't be self-inflicted," Paige reasoned, "Wyatt probably did it, made something in the poison impenetrable in case we managed to save him. He knew what we would do...now that we found out the truth."  
  
"I can't believe that my little boy would do this, to his own brother—"  
  
"Earth to Piper," Mel raged, "he's not your 'little boy.' He's a powerful demon that nobody can stop, on the prowl trying to kill innocents. Don't you get it? This isn't the same Wyatt, he's not all cute and innocent like he was before. In fact, that Wyatt probably never even existed, so get over it. What we have to do now is catch him and help Chris."  
  
She let go of Chris's hand and stood up, towering over the adults crouched over him. "I have an idea—okay, Leo, orb Chris up to the medical wing of the Magic School. STAY WITH HIM. Mom, try to keep a lid on things in the magic school with all the innocents. Orb them back down if you can, and tell Phoebe and Prue to start looking for a pain reliever spell of some kind, or make up one of their own. Piper, you come with me. We're going Wyatt hunting."  
  
Piper rolled her eyes. "You and Paige are so BOSSY—"  
  
"No," Leo countered, "they just know how to KEEP A COOL HEAD in a bad situation, something that you may have yet to learn."  
  
Piper flashed a betrayed glare at her ex-husband, but knew that this was no time to fight. Leo and Paige orbed to the Magic School and Piper looked over at Mel expectantly, waiting for an explanation.  
  
"Well?" Piper questioned. "Now what?"  
  
"I told you," she said irritably. "I can't make myself any clearer—we are going Wyatt hunting, and once we find him...we'll stay hidden, spy on him, and see what he's up to. If we're lucky, we'll find a way to save Chris and turn him back to the light."  
  
Piper was going to fight back but she bit her tongue. "I know we can save Chris," she reassured her niece. "Otherwise Chris wouldn't be able to tamper with time for Wyatt. But as for turning Wyatt back..." She grimaced. "You heard the prophecy. Chris is going to fix that." 


	6. The Purest of Them All

Sorry I haven't updated in a while...well, actually, a day to be exact, but that seems long to me. Any day that I'm forced to go to school seems long to me, though. Enjoy the new chapter!  
  
Mel only nodded back. She wished with all of her heart that she could stop Wyatt, maybe turn him back to the light, but knew that she wasn't powerful enough. Only Chris had the power—not just magically, but in terms of compassion, too. From here on it would be a bumpy road for Chris.  
  
Piper put a hand on her shoulder. "Can you sense Wyatt anywhere?"  
  
Mel closed her eyes again. Even sensing didn't come very easily to her, even though she practiced the craft as often as she could. The only person she could easily sense was Chris, probably because she had done so many times before and was used to it by now.  
  
"He's in the underground, below the park," she said suddenly, opening her eyes. "You know, San Francisco Park. By the bridge."  
  
"Of course I know," Piper snapped. "Sorry. It's all a little hard to understand that Wyatt of all people would want to hurt people for PLEASURE. He seemed so innocent, so harmless...so pure..."  
  
"Yeah, well, he had us all fooled," Mel cut in fiercely. "But don't dote on past mistakes, that'll only make it worse. Here, take my hand, I'll orb you there. I can sort of see where he is, and if I'm correct, there's a good little shadowy corner where Wyatt's standing. He wouldn't be able to see it. Ready?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be," Piper responded, bracing herself for the dizzy sensation of orbing. She smiled internally, remembering the first time she'd orbed. She was mad at Leo then, just as she was now.  
  
"Where are—"  
  
Mel nudged Piper fiercely and clapped a hand over her mouth, afraid that somebody would hear them. They were only about five feet away from the closest demon, and just because they couldn't be seen didn't prevent them from being heard. She put a finger at her mouth for silence and Piper scowled. They remained looking at each other with hostile glares until a familiar voice caught their attention.  
  
"They did manage to kill all of the demons," a voice laughed. It was Wyatt, Mel could see his feet. "This is all going according to plan. They'll never know that by doing what they did, they've only made it worse..."  
  
Mel's heart pounded in her ears, deafening her. She could hear what Wyatt was saying, but could she believe it? How could vanquishing a demon make their situation worse than it already was?  
  
"Master," a feeble creature interrupted. "I'm afraid I still don't understand my task, for I still don't understand what has been done. Tell me and I shall fulfill your every whim."  
  
"I told you before!" Wyatt shouted angrily at the demon at his feet. The demon was small and skinny, crouching down to his knees to bow down. Wyatt only kicked him. "Those demons were neutrals, my 'school friends.' They don't know about magic, and never will. They weren't aware of what they were doing. I found a way to control them." Mel could see Wyatt's malicious grin through the faint glow of the firelight. "I made them demons, two with active powers to torture, just for fun. Then," he paused, grin widening and eyes sparkling with pride. "Then I made one with the power to inject Chris' poisoning and one to heal it. They are both dead. Chris cannot be saved. Unless..."  
  
"Unless what?" the demon asked.  
  
"Unless they find the antidote that can save Chris, that's what. You see, that is why I've sent you. The antidote can only be picked up by the purest being in the world, which I've concluded as Mel. Before they figure that out, you need to take it away, since you can disguise yourself as any being."  
  
"Ah." Even the demon seemed to be smiling. "This is my favorite game of all time, masking my identity with those of others."  
  
Wyatt kicked him again. "This is no game, this is very serious! I need you to get that antidote. Here's a picture of the girl, now do your morphing thing."  
  
The demon lifted the picture off of the floor and squinted at it, reshaping awkwardly into Mel. "Mel" grinned. "I have done as you please, master," he said in a high-pitched voice like Mel's. "Now, tell me where I am to find this antidote of yours."  
  
Mel held her breath to keep from screaming at Wyatt. How dare he? He was using her to get something that could save Chris! Wait—what had he said? That she was the purest of all beings? No, that...that couldn't be right...  
  
"It's in the underworld," Wyatt told him, "inside of a large boulder. There are about five gigantic rocks down there, and one of them contains what I want. Knock three times and say "charmed" to get inside. Do you understand what I expect of you? If you're not here in—" he checked his watch. "30 minutes, then I'll find you—and kill you."  
  
"Yes, master," the demon stuttered, shimmering away.  
  
Wyatt began to laugh. "Little do you know that once that antidote is destroyed, you will go with it in the flames! Hahahahaha!" (cue the evil laughing). He orbed away, leaving the room abandoned and the fireplace nothing but faintly glowing embers, his laughing still echoing eerily off the walls.  
  
"Mel," Piper breathed. "Did you hear that?"  
  
"Of course I did," she snapped, grabbing Piper's hand and orbing her to the Magic School next to Leo. "Any progress?" she demanded urgently.  
  
"No," Leo sighed, disappointed. He looked down at Chris, who was sweating and pale-faced. "Nothing. Phoebe's tried spells that don't work on him. Nothing's working at all, and I don't think we have much time. Did you find anything out?"  
  
"Yeah," Mel replied. "That's why I gotta go." She orbed out just as Paige walked in from finishing orbing down the innocents.  
  
"Where'd she go?" Paige asked. "What happened?"  
  
"Why did she just leave?" Leo added.  
  
Piper sighed, burying her head in her arms and unable to look at Chris. Finally, she took her arms away and stared at the floor. This was going to be a little hard to explain, but she'd have to take a whack at it. It wouldn't be as bad as what Mel was going to have to do.  
  
"Well," she began, "it all began with Wyatt and a shape-shifting demon..."  
  
()/)/)/)/)/)/)/)/)()/)/)/)/)/)/)/)/)()/)/)/)/ )/)/)/)/)  
  
Mel had seen the underworld before—she'd been in it on several occasions, actually, but none as threatening as this one. Apparently everybody had heard of Wyatt's turning and fled the area in either fear or desire to join him. It was dead quiet, she could've heard a pin drop from a mile away.  
  
On second thought...  
  
The footsteps were muffled and hard to hear, but definitely there. She took a small step towards the noise, then realized: the footsteps, however far away they were, sounded just like her own. A chill went up her spine at the thought of that demon pretending to be her, being in her cloned body.  
  
By following the footsteps she was lead into a room lit by fiery torches. There were five walls around her, each with a noticeable rock sticking out from them. 'Those must be the boulders Wyatt was talking about,' she thought.  
  
From the corner of her eye she saw the demon knock on the first boulder. Panicking, she braced herself, ready to make a mad dash for the opening if he succeeded. Fortunately it remained closed. She silently breathed a sigh of relief, but the relief was quickly replaced by more frantic paranoia as she saw her demon clone advance onto the next boulder.  
  
Yet again, nothing happened. She relaxed for a moment, then crept about ten feet behind him for the next boulder. He knocked once more, and a blinding blue light filled the room and his screaming—no, her screaming, technically speaking—pierced the room. She cringed at the demon's agony, seeing that he had been reduced to a pile of ash.  
  
It hadn't worked. The boulder hadn't been fooled by the demon's clever antics, it still remained closed. She grinned and ran towards it.  
  
Mel knocked three times. "Charmed," she whispered into it.  
  
Nothing happened. She knocked again. "Charmed," she said, louder.  
  
She tried desperately to open it, knocking and wailing "Charmed, charmed, charmed" as many times as she could, but the rock remained closed. She tried the other boulders all again, in case there was some kind of mistake, but there was none. Her knees fell to the ground and she sobbed openly. She couldn't save Chris, she wasn't capable, she wasn't the most pure. Then who was?  
  
All of a sudden the thought hit her.  
  
"If I'm not the purest," she choked, "then it has to be—"  
  
I think I've just about set my own personal record for most torturous cliffhanger ever, thank you very much!! Don't kill me though, there's more probably by tonight or tomorrow morning. It depends on how long I put off my mountain of homework that I'm supposed to do this weekend! 


	7. Power of Three Reborn

"—the three of us."  
  
It made sense. The purity of the Charmed Ones had gone down through the second generation and scattered into four: Wyatt, Chris, Mel, and Prue. Wyatt was out of the picture now, but he was evil to begin with. Now she needed Prue and Chris to be with her in order to restore the second generation of Charmed Ones.  
  
But how was she going to take Chris? He was the one that was infected in the first place. Could she bring him here?  
  
...   
  
Prue slammed the book shut in hostility. This wasn't working. They were no closer to finding a pain removal spell that worked than they were an hour ago! Her mother was by the table, chewing off the eraser of her pencil and deep in thought over the creation of a new spell.  
  
"Mom," Prue whined, "we're not getting anywhere. Have you come up with a spell yet? You've been sitting there for like, ever."  
  
Phoebe jumped slightly, then turned to face Prue. "Huh?" Her face fell. "Oh, no, not yet, sweetie. I'm trying. It's just so confusing, I know that your aunt Paige tried to explain to me what Mel was doing, but...I don't think that Wyatt was right."  
  
"What?" Prue asked angrily. "You knew what she was doing and you didn't tell me? Mom! That's not fair! You're all treating me like a baby! Just because I have powers like yours doesn't mean I'm stupid! I mean, you of all people should understand, considering you have the same sucky powers as I do!"  
  
Phoebe sighed. "You know what? You're right. We have been leaving you out of things. Come here, sit by me. I'll tell you what I heard from Paige."  
  
Prue set the Book of Shadows down by her mother and sat in the chair next to Phoebe, waiting expectantly for an explanation. Somewhere beneath all of this confusion, something had to make sense. Right?  
  
"Mel and your Aunt Piper listened to Wyatt at some old office building. He was talking to a demon, you see." Phoebe thought carefully about how to make everything sound as simple as it could. "It was a shape-shifting demon that could make itself turn into anything it wanted to, even other people. Well, there's this antidote that we can use to save Chris—it's in the underworld, and only the one purest at heart can take it from these stones. Wyatt thought it was Mel, so the demon transformed into her, and Mel orbed to the underworld just now."  
  
"Whoa..." Prue absorbed the information. "What didn't you think Wyatt was right about, mommy?"  
  
"Well, I don't think the Mel would necessarily be the purest."  
  
"But mommy, Mel's never done anything wrong!" Prue exclaimed, bouncing up from her seat. Mel was her role model, she had to be pure.  
  
Phoebe laughed. "Oh, honey, I'd never doubt for a moment that Mel was a perfect girl. It's just, there's an entire next generation of Halliwells, not just Mel. Why would she be the purest? I don't understand—it could have been Chris or you, too. Why would Mel be the most likely in Wyatt's mind?" She paused for a moment, biting her lip. "I'm just not sure if this is gonna work or not."  
  
Prue gave her mom a hug. "It'll be fine," she consoled Phoebe, "Mel's always doing things right."  
  
It was then, snuggling in her mother's arms, did she remember the spell. She gasped in excitement and quickly pulled away from a shocked Phoebe, then pulled out the Book of Shadows and began flipping again.  
  
"Here it is!" she shrieked. "The spell! It'll work against demonic poisons, but it's only temporary—like ten minutes, or something. If we kept using it, Chris would be okay for a while. I think...uh-oh. It says that if the spell isn't recited every ten minutes or so, the victim's at risk of dying..."  
  
"Then we'll keep reciting it until we find a cure," Phoebe decided firmly. "We can't let him suffer."  
  
Just then Paige ran in, looking frantic. "Chris," she panted, "he's dying. His temperature's gone up to 105 degrees, we can't talk to him. He's awake, but he can't hear us. He won't last long," she sobbed. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"Prue found a spell," Phoebe suggested. "It has side effects, but if we do it correctly and repeatedly, it'll work."  
  
"Hurry," Paige begged with pleading eyes. "Save him."  
  
Paige grabbed Prue's and Phoebe's hands and orbed to medical wing. Piper and Leo were hovering over Chris' bed, Piper crying and tears welling up in Leo's eyes. Leo was squeezing Chris' hand, wishing with all of his heart that he could stop this before it was too late.  
  
"Quickly," said Prue, shoving the Book in Piper's face. Piper seemed unfazed and distant. "Aunt Piper, quickly, we need to do this now!"  
  
Piper reawakened to the world around her and saw Prue. "What is it, sweetie?" she crooned like Prue was a baby.  
  
"Stop doing that!" Prue scolded. "I'm not stupid, you know! Anyways, read the spell, it'll help Chris—for a while at least. We all have to read it together. C'mon, stop with the wistful staring already! WAKE—THE HELL—UP!!"  
  
Everybody in the room turned to face her.  
  
"I'm so damn SICK of you all pretending I don't understand anything! My powers are the same as my mom's, and you don't treat her like you do me! Stop BABYING me and GET A GRIP, why don't you all? I stopped the tidal wave, didn't I? I know the Book of Shadows by heart, don't I? SNAP OUT OF IT!"  
  
Silently, Piper took the book from Prue. Paige and Phoebe leaned over her shoulder to read the spell, and Piper lowered it so Prue could read it aloud as well. Prue felt oddly satisfied at her outburst. People wouldn't treat her differently than the cousins she adored. With Wyatt gone, they had no choice but to include her in the second generation's Power of Three. They weren't blind to her power.  
  
Now she had finally felt for the first time that her family accepted her ability. She was going to fight with Mel and Chris, and she was going to win.  
  
They read the spell aloud finally, then looked over at Chris expectantly. His shallow breathing returned to normal and he opened his eyes, suddenly seeming very confused.  
  
"Where am I?" he asked them all, glancing at the faces. Once he saw Paige, the relief washed over him. If Paige was here, then he was okay. "Where's Wyatt? Where's Mel? What...happened?"  
  
"Don't you remember?" Paige asked him. "Wyatt hit you with a..." she glanced over at Prue, uncertain to whether or not she should hear this as well, then changed her mind. She knew what it was like being the baby of the family. "Darklighter arrow and injected you with poison. We found a temporary cure and Mel is—"  
  
At that moment they heard an orbing jingle, and Mel, face tear-streaked, appeared in the room. "Chris, you're okay!" she screamed, running up to hug him. "But..." she turned to her mother and aunts. "This isn't going to last, is it? I can't get the antidote, but I think that if Prue and Chris come with me, we can get it. Together."  
  
A/N: I'm gonna MURDER whomever created that DAMNED (excuse my language, I'm ANGRY) episode that KILLED OFF CHRIS!!! He's—my obsession—he's so...cool...so...amazingly hot...WHY??? At least they could've sent him back to the future PEACABLY to leave my mind at peace. Even in the end, it would've been cool if some ghost-Chris watched Leo and Piper meet up with baby Chris in the end of the episode, saying something like, "The future's been changed...I'm going back to my own time now. To a better place." Then disappearing. Then we'd know he made it to a better future! I mean, c'mon, is that TOO MUCH to ASK? I don't think SO!!!  
  
I'm still gonna continue with my Chris-centered fics, of course, just...I may sob at the cruelty once in a while when the season seven episodes come on without Chris...I cried at the episode last night! I never cry about tv shows, normally I'm like 'Oh yeah, that's nice, somebody's dead. Won't expect to see him/her in the next episode' but that...THAT...THAT WAS HEART- WRENCHING, THE WAY LEO CRIED! I had to cry, because he did, so I've justified my immediate reaction. 


	8. What Now?

Okay, last chappie. I'm so sorry it took a million years to update, but the net was faulty and evil again! Grrr upon AOL!!  
  
DISCAIMER: ME NO OWN!!  
  
"What do you mean 'together'?" Piper asked. "Chris is not leaving this room, he's hurt. He was practically dead a moment ago, he's too fragile to go out to the underworld. There has to be another way."  
  
"Piper," Mel said softly, "I wish there was another way. I don't want anything to happen to Chris, either, but Wyatt and I both know...that this is the only way. Wyatt will know about it soon enough when the shape shifting demon doesn't come back. If we don't act quickly, Chris will die. Please, Piper," she begged, "let him go. For all of our sakes. We don't want to lose him."  
  
Piper nodded, then ran a finger through Chris' hair. He flinched. His mother had barely even noticed him before, and now, here she was, concerned. It almost scared him. Was she under a spell? He looked over at Mel, he could always tell if she was hiding something—but she wasn't.  
  
"Be careful, honey," Piper choked, letting go of him. "I love you."  
  
"I...it's nice to know that, mom," he said. "I love you too."  
  
He got up slowly, stumbling over to Mel. Leo reached out to help him but Chris turned the other way. He wasn't ready for all this...not after all these years of betrayal. Not after what they'd done to make his life a living hell. Not just yet.  
  
"What do we need to do?" he asked. His voice was weak but confident. He wouldn't let this pain he was feeling let him down, he couldn't let Wyatt get to him. He was trying to forget that Wyatt was evil, and in doing that, he'd have to forget everything in his body that ached all over, which was caused by Wyatt. Wyatt. The brother he would've trusted with his life...had just tried to take his life away from him.  
  
"We need to go to the underworld," she explained quickly, "I've already found out where to get the antidote. Prue, come here, we need you, too."  
  
Prue grinned. It seemed as if she was going to team up with her cousins a little sooner than she had anticipated.  
  
She walked up to Mel and took Chris' and Mel's hands, stepping in between them. Waving to her mother and blowing her a good-bye kiss, she got read to orb away, which, like Piper, she was a bit wary of. Her mother was a witch and her dad was a mortal—Jason Dean, but he'd died before she was born—so she didn't have the power to orb. Since Mel and Chris both had either a white-lighter or half whitelighter for parents, they inherited it. Mel's father was Richard, but he was on a business trip at the moment, thankfully.  
  
Before she knew it, they were orbing. It was like the sensation she got on a roller coaster at the fair that would come to the city in August. It had so many twists and turns and spins...  
  
Then it stopped in about three seconds. Her face fell in disappointment—orbing was totally cool!—but then she remembered that she was on a mission. A mission that, if not handled quickly, could mean the death of one of her wonderful cousins.  
  
Mel looked around. "We're in the right place," she observed, squinting through the black cavern. "It wasn't as dark the last time I was here, though. I wonder why...maybe that demon had something to do with it? I dunno. Anyways, Chris, you stay here for a minute. I'll feel the walls for the boulders...Prue, stay with Chris, something might go wrong."  
  
Prue nodded. She knew that this time she wasn't staying behind because she was a nuisance, this time she had a job to do: watch Chris. Normally she'd laugh—Chris was thirteen and highly capable of taking care of himself—but it didn't seem funny anymore. Even though they had used the potion minutes ago, he was already gasping for air and pale in the face, sweating.  
  
"I found it!" Mel called from about ten feet away. "Come on, over here!"  
  
"Where?" Prue called back. "I can't see!"  
  
Mel didn't reply. Prue figured that she couldn't hear her, so she followed Chris slowly to the sound of where her voice had been heard. A few footsteps in, she was completely lost and didn't have a clue where she was headed.  
  
"Mel?" she cried shakily.  
  
She turned to her right and saw that Chris was gone, too. Where could he have gone? He wasn't strong enough to get away from her that fast, and he was right behind her a moment ago. Something seemed...wrong...  
  
"RUN!" Chris' voice howled out. "RUN, PRUE, GET OUTTA HERE!"  
  
"Chris!" she shrieked, "Where are you guys? What am I supposed to—"  
  
"I said, RUN!" Chris repeated again. "It's Wyatt, he's down here, get out before it's too late! Hurry, Prue!"  
  
She gasped and leapt to make a sprint for her life, but mid leap, two strong, demanding arms grabbed the back of her knees and neck. Wyatt had gotten her and slung her over his shoulder carelessly like a sack of potatoes before roughly dropping her on the floor between Mel and Chris. An electric pulse went through her, and she tried to get away from it before realizing that the magic he had created was binding her to the floor.  
  
"Did you really think a toddler could escape me, Chrissy?" Wyatt sneered. "Yet another rash prediction you have made today. What's wrong? Poison? Woopsy, my bad. Not."  
  
"I'm not a toddler, I'm nine!" Prue screamed. "And his name isn't Chrissy, it's Chris, and he's smarter than you'll ever be! Now let us go!"  
  
"Cute," Wyatt said sarcastically. "A baby's defending you, Chris. Gee, what back up you've got there."  
  
"He's got me backing him up too, you know!" Mel lashed out at him, trying to loosen her foot so she could kick his leg. "In fact, now he's got the entire family backing him up, not just me and my mom!"  
  
"SILENCE!" Wyatt roared, sending a burst of magic through them both. They squealed then became eerily silent... "I don't want to hurt you two, you're not the ones that'll cross me. You did that," he pointed to their mouths, "to yourself."  
  
Mel squirmed around desperately, trying to cry out in frustration. The noise never came, her voice was gone. When she tried to speak she couldn't even manage a whisper. Wyatt must have anticipated their rebellious natures enough to compose some kind of magic to make them stuff it.  
  
"What did you do to them?" Chris demanded with a frail voice, panting. The temporary spell wasn't going to work much longer, it would only be a matter of time before the poison would sink all the way back into his veins and kill him. "If you hurt them, I'll...I'll..."  
  
"You'll what?" Wyatt cackled. "You're pretty defenseless from where I stand, little brother."  
  
Chris gasped in agony as the pain began to return. His head buzzed, aching so hard that he couldn't see anything. The world was spinning and he felt a sharp stab at his side...somebody kicked him, but it didn't make much of a difference, the other pains he felt were consuming his mind.  
  
Mel fought tears as she saw Chris, dying. They had failed. Tonight Chris would die...all because of Wyatt. She took Prue's hand for comfort and saw that her little cousin was crying, too. How could Wyatt, of all people, do this to them?  
  
Suddenly a blinding light filled the entire room, worse than when the demon had found the antidote. It was emerging from Chris, his eyes clenched tight in concentration and rage as he began to mutter some words underneath his breath.  
  
"Send this demon far from here," he whispered hoarsely, "to where he can't find the people that love him dear." He groaned. Something was happening. Was it like Wyatt had said? Were these the powers that had been bound from before? How come he had them now?  
  
He couldn't finish the spell, he was too focused on this new power that was making Wyatt suffer. Mel realized what was happening and said the first words that came to mind off the top of her head. "Take him somewhere harmless for now, somewhere for safe-keeping—"  
  
Prue chirped in to finish. "So he cannot find the brother he's seeking!"  
  
By now Wyatt had attempted to grab at Chris' throat and stab him with an athame several times, only to get burned by the light. Once the spell had been recited he shrieked, "You can't stop me!" before dissolving away to a place for "safe-keeping."  
  
Chris flashed a small, internal smile before falling into unconsciousness. Maybe there was still hope...  
  
"Chris!" Mel screamed once Wyatt was gone. "Chris, wake up!"  
  
"Mel," Prue said forcefully, "we need to get that antidote. C'mon, we'll still use his hand to open it. Wee need to do this, and FAST."  
  
"You're right," said Mel, dragging Chris about a foot forwards, towards the rock. She took his hand and balled it inside of hers like a fist and knocked with his three times, knocked with her own, then motioned to Prue. Prue stepped forwards and knocked too.  
  
"Charmed," Mel stuttered.  
  
"Charmed," Prue repeated.  
  
The boulder stayed firmly shut. "We need Chris," Mel sobbed. "This isn't going to work!"  
  
Prue bent down and shook Chris gently. "C'mon, Chris...wake up, just a minute..."  
  
"Charmed," Chris gasped.  
  
The boulder split in two, but there was no light, no dramatic music, no heart-stopping mind-boggling entrancement. All they could see was an altar, a potion-like vial atop it. It seemed no more important than the average day potion, in fact, but Mel knew from Wyatt's "loving" that looks could often be deceiving.  
  
Mel rushed up to the vial, ready to throw it at Chris, when—  
  
"Wait," Prue demanded out of nowhere. "We need to chant. It won't work unless we chant."  
  
Mel looked at her cousin quizzically, then decided that they didn't have any time to lose. She aimed at Chris again, and right as she lifted her arm, Prue grabbed it in mid-air.  
  
"Mel!" she exclaimed. "We need to chant, that woman over there that looks like my mommy said so. Don't call me crazy or anything, but she said her name was Prue, like me. But she said to chant...I don't know what she meant."  
  
"Prue?" Mel questioned. Prue was the name of their dead aunt that she and her mother had never known, but seen lots of pictures of. Could she be guiding them to save Chris? "What do you mean by chanting?" Then it hit her. Before they'd blocked the house off to all evil when she was about five or so, her mother and aunts would chant something...what was it?"  
  
"The Power of Three will set us free," Mel spat out in realization. "The Power of Three will set us free!"  
  
Prue chimed in and they both took hold of the vial, throwing it at Chris but continuing to chant. "The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free!"  
  
Chris sat up, grinning. "It worked," he marveled. "I'm alive. Thank you guys so much, I don't know what I'd do without you both! You saved me."  
  
"Don't thank us," Prue laughed, "thank that lady over there."  
  
They all turned to where she was staring to see a woman dressed a white dress, transparent and glowing beautifully. She smiled and waved at little Prue, flipping her dark hair. As she faded away, she and little Prue both blew the familiar kisses at each other.  
  
"Good bye, Aunt Prue!" little Prue called.  
  
"That's our aunt," Chris murmured in awe, "the one we never met. Aunt Prue. She must be watching over us now."  
  
"I've seen her before," Prue explained. "In my dreams, my nightmares. She always comes up to hug me and tell me that it'll be alright, and then I wake up and see mommy there instead."  
  
They were all silent for a moment, confused and amazed at what they had just seen. Chris jumped up first.  
  
"Where's Wyatt? I never finished the spell—"  
  
"Don't worry, we did," Mel assured him.  
  
Chris breathed in relief. "He'll be okay, right? At least until we can get him back and turned good again, I mean."  
  
"Yeah, that was a part of the spell. We don't know where he is, but you're safe now. We're all safe now, and we've managed to put a stop to the chaos in San Francisco—while you were asleep. Everything will be okay, and that's all that matters." Mel sniffled a bit, grinning. "We thought you were a goner for sure, Chris! Speaking of which, Aunt Piper will KILL me if we don't come back with you soon. She's actually worried about you..."  
  
"For once," said Chris darkly. "But I'm not going to get my hopes up that it will last. Nothing ever really lasts around here."  
  
"Chris..." Mel trailed off.  
  
"C'mon, Prue," Chris interrupted, holding out his hand to her. "Let's go to the Magic School and get everybody."  
  
THE------------------------------END  
  
There'll probably be a sequel, don't you worry! I'm thinking it'll be about what happens after Wyatt escapes and tries to make Chris SUFFER at any costs. MWAHAHAHA!!!  
  
--Emma— 


End file.
